'24 Stand Up for Standout Friends: Spotlight #4 of 8

Back in October, MALF announced the 2024 class of exemplary volunteers honored by their peers as part of our Stand Up for Standout Friends program. It's now our privilege to profile each in turn. Next up:

Friends of the Monticello Library: Jeanette Kallevig

Each month, the CentraCare Birth Center in Monticello welcomes between 20 and 30 newborns. Thanks to Books for Babies, an outreach program from the Friends of the Monticello Library, every parent leaves with a generous gift of free books to start their newest addition on their early literacy journey. Two-time board member Jeanette Kallevig has stewarded this Friends program since 2021.

Kallevig is uniquely qualified for that position. Her love for libraries and literacy started during her own childhood, when she parlayed a short-term Girl Scout badge assignment into a part-time job at the public library in Worthington. Later in life, she pursued an elementary education degree (with a minor in library science) from St. Cloud State University. Over a varied career Kallevig taught second graders in Willmar, staffed the public library in Elk River and the law library attached to the courthouse in Buffalo, and finally served as a school media specialist at Pinewood Elementary in Monticello.

After retiring in 2011, Kallevig took on or “doubled down” on several volunteer commitments: Eastview Education Center, where she is volunteer librarian; River City Readers, a traveling read-out-loud program coordinated through the Monticello Senior Center; and of course the Friends of the Library.

Literacy remains on her mind even when traveling. Last summer, Kallevig and her grandson Rylan made it their mission to visit every remaining Carnegie library in Minnesota!